Outlines were linear. Graphic organizers less so.
I like to think of graphic organizers as index cards laid out on a table. You have your thoughts, but they can go in all sorts of configurations. The real question is how are you going to organize them?
“Graphic organizers are a helpful learning tool for students of all ages to organize, clarify, or simplify complex information—they help students construct understanding through an exploration of the relationships between concepts. Teacher-generated organizers are a useful scaffold to support student learning. They provide students with a means to categorize cumbersome amounts of information, introduce a more refined lens to analyze a complex text, and enable students to recognize patterns and compare perspectives.” – Edutopia.com